This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 26, 2011 - On Friday, July 29, an eight-foot statue of rock 'n' roll legend Chuck Berry will be dedicated at 10 a.m. on the Delmar Loop just a bit west and across the street from Blueberry Hill. Joe Edwards, the driving force behind the statue, is of course the man who started Blueberry Hill in September 1972 -- back when the Loop was full of empty storefronts and seemingly devoid of any potential or future.
I experienced that era first hand as the manager of Streetside Records for a time, which was just a couple blocks east of Blueberry Hill on Delmar. In the late '70s, a walk from the bustle and buzz of Streetside to the equally happening scene at Blueberry Hill took me past a decaying Tivoli Theater, a few restaurants and head shops, a music instrument store -- and not much else.
But thanks to Edwards, the Loop came back. Streetside is now gone -- but has been replaced by a thriving restaurant. Vintage Vinyl has become a strong musical presence just west of Blueberry Hill, and Edwards has personally revived the Tivoli as a successful movie house. If that weren't enough, he has also tied the Loop together with his Walk of Fame stars honoring St. Louis celebrities -- and extended the Loop east of Skinker with the Pageant, Pin-Up Bowl and the Moonrise Hotel.
Now he's managed to get a statue in place honoring Berry, a musician known as the father of rock and roll, who was born and still lives right here in the metro area -- and who will actually be in attendance at the dedication of his statue this Friday.
As I discovered after a quick check of statues honoring musicians in St. Louis -- as well as other cities in the U.S. -- the presence of the honoree at a dedication is definitely a rarity. No surprise, but Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner, Verdi, Rossini and Gounod were not wandering around Tower Grove Park munching on brain sandwiches when their busts were first put on display there.
And W.C. Handy and Elvis Presley had long ago shuffled off this mortal coil when their statues went up on Beale Street in Memphis. (OK, you may get still get some arguments from some wild-eyed Elvis fanatics about that.) The same is true of the Jimi Hendrix statue in Seattle, the Ray Charles and Otis Redding statues in Georgia, Stevie Ray Vaughan's statue in Austin -- as well as Blind Boone's statue in Warrensburg, Mo.
So let's be grateful that Chuck is still around at age 84 to attend the dedication of the statue in his honor -- and also be grateful for the fact that he can still get on stage once a month at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room and play his music for capacity crowds.
Hopefully, we can also get past the concept that a person who is honored with a statue has to be some kind of saint, as former University City Council member Elsie Glickert evidently believes. Glickert tried to stop the statue with petitions and the argument that the project was a misuse of city tax funds. But it seems her real opposition was best summed up by her quote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the controversy: "Chuck Berry is a felon."
Yes, Chuck did serve time in a reformatory for armed robbery and was convicted as an adult of a Mann Act violation (which many believe was a setup). And his incident later in life in which a video camera recorded women in the ladies' room of Berry's restaurant was numbingly embarrassing.
But certainly many statues have been created for individuals whose personal lives have not been stellar -- even though their public accomplishments have been noteworthy.
In the end, we're talking about a musician instrumental in the creation of rock 'n' roll. And the last time I checked, the essence of rock 'n' roll has always been freedom, rebellion against authority and, yes, always about love.
So I believe a statue for Chuck Berry is long overdue. Thanks to Joe Edwards and Charlie Brennan of KMOX, it's now a reality.
I have only one question: Where's the statue of Miles Davis?
Terry Perkins, a freelance writer in St. Louis, covers the local music scene.